ANNOUNCING - the World Cup Invitational Bluewater Meet - July 6-10, 2009

[SpearMax]

Here we go again - GR are you out there?

Announcing another great tournament by our friend Dennis Haussler:

HOLD YOUR BREATH!!!

The dates for next years World Cup Invitational Bluewater Meet will be July 6-10, 2009. Once again it will be held at La Ventana Mexico, with host Tim Hatler and his crew at Palapas Ventana, stepping up for another year of excellent hospitality.

The competitor list is already forming with a good mix of top comp divers, and new talent. Bernie Finnerty, James McCollum, Ian Puckeridge, GR Tarr, Brian Head, Max and Carlos from Brazil, the McGuire brothers, even the young gun squad from colorado are in!!!

The meet is a CASH purse for 1st and 2nd place, and the sponsor list is top notch, with gear from some of the best companies in the world! Diving last year was outstanding, with a wide variety of fish, and good weather, so we will cross our fingers and hope for similar or better conditions.

Cost is all inclusive, except transfer, air, and alcohol, so if your interested, contact me at dennis@20fathoms.com, and I'll shoot you the info.

You can see the results and stories from the last years at www.20fathoms.com/worldcup.

There are options for coming early, or staying late, so come on down and take part in what is becoming the Bisby of the bluewater world. Come early and hunt the reef for those tackle busting pargo, and enjoy the beauty and excitment of this World Class event!

Attendance is limited to first 30 divers.


Best Regards
Dennis Haussler
Redwood City CA
www.20fathoms.com

[Rinaldo]

Looks awesome. I will make it one year !

[scubadown16]

In honor of a truely manifacent women and Great Spearo who recently past away... Bonnie Row who was one of the original competitors of this meet... I will be returning to this tournament not only to compete.. But to also place a small memorial at the very spot where I took this photo of her and the only bait ball I have ever seen...

James Hardesty

[billder99]

Hi Dennis,

It killed me that I missed the fun in '08, and I would like to join in for '09. My concern is that I don't want to take a seat from a high level competitor. I am a 50'/1:30 hunter, and a really lousy shot (drives me nuts, but I keep working to improve)... it would disgrace me to miss one of those beautiful wahoo when you are there to see my lame shot.

If you don't sell all 30 spots, count me in!, but I'm sure that will not be a problem. Barring the "open man" entry, what is the chance of coming down to help as Support Crew... I am a willing and capable worker, tequila drinker, and all around positive influence.

As last year, you are invited to Loreto either before or after the Open... I know the reefs as well as anyone around, my finely tuned Panga is always raring to go, and you are welcome to the use of our guest Casita.

[Killingcarp]

Hey billder99, just want to say that last year was my first time hunting in the blue water, and what a great experance. and as far as missing fish i did pleanty of that. so just sayin you should come

[dennishaussler]

Hi Dennis,

It killed me that I missed the fun in '08, and I would like to join in for '09. My concern is that I don't want to take a seat from a high level competitor. I am a 50'/1:30 hunter, and a really lousy shot (drives me nuts, but I keep working to improve)... it would disgrace me to miss one of those beautiful wahoo when you are there to see my lame shot.

If you don't sell all 30 spots, count me in!, but I'm sure that will not be a problem. Barring the "open man" entry, what is the chance of coming down to help as Support Crew... I am a willing and capable worker, tequila drinker, and all around positive influence.

As last year, you are invited to Loreto either before or after the Open... I know the reefs as well as anyone around, my finely tuned Panga is always raring to go, and you are welcome to the use of our guest Casita.

Billder

Your welcome to come, 50' and 1;30 times is good enough to shoot fish.
PM me and we can talk about it more. best to contact me at dennis@20fathoms.com, as I don;t always punch on the SB.
lets talk

[billder99]

Hola Dennis & KC,

Thanks for the encouragement. OK then, I'm on. Can you send me something that details registration fees, where to send fees, dates, etc?

Maybe you guys can give me some tips to help me learn to shoot straight. I am opening a separate thread on the subject "Learning to Shoot Straight"... any ideas are much appreciated

Gracias, Bill Doyle

[sticknrelease]

OK, so who is going? When are people getting there to scout? Anybody staying late? I'm trying to talk my checkbook into letting me go, let's get some information out there for me please...

[dennishaussler]

Heres the latest on the WC for this year.
The list of attendees is growing,
and the sponsors have stepped up.
I wanted to get the new flyer out, and let folks know we still have some room.
If your interested, please contact me at dennis@20fathoms.com, and I'll give you the scoop and answer any questions I can.

[SpearRiffe]

I wish i could do this tournament that would be so sick! Good luck to everyone competing and dive safe!

[BajaBum]

Is this tournamet open for La Paz Locals?

[sticknrelease]

Baja Bum, I would contact Dennis directly, he isn't on SB very often, something about having a job and responsibilities, I didn't really understand him, my X-Box was really loud :-) his e-mail is Dennis@20fathoms.com If you are going to compete, show up to Palapas Ventana a couple of days early and let me know your secret spots!

[BajaBum]

Thanks!, I talked to dennis already i am not competing :( but any ways If any of you guys show up a few days earlier and want to kill some time, let me know i have a small boat and a few nice spots ;)

[sticknrelease]

will do, killing carp and myself are flying in on the 3rd of july

[scubadown16]

Baja... I am flying in at 11am on the 3rd Lets hook up and head to El Bajo...

[BajaBum]

Baja... I am flying in at 11am on the 3rd Lets hook up and head to El Bajo...

Sounds like a Plan! Do you need a ride from the airport?

I'll let my friend know he is the captain of a nice Panga he can take us over there.

Gonzalo

[sticknrelease]

I'm coming in with a few other guys, and Palapas ventana is sending a van for us, but I would love to tag along with you for a few hours, especially before the tournament starts. This is my first time to your neck of the woods, and I'm hoping to soak up as much info as I can.

[scubadown16]

Sounds like a Plan! Do you need a ride from the airport?

I'll let my friend know he is the captain of a nice Panga he can take us over there.

Gonzalo


I could use a ride if you don't mind. I am flying into Cabo though..... Maybe we could hit up some good shore diving in the after noon or hit the island after we drop my crap off at Palapas Ventana. I think we should do El Bajo on Wednesday July 8th. That way we can head out early in the AM and stay all day. I know its a haul out to it.

[BajaBum]

I could use a ride if you don't mind. I am flying into Cabo though..... Maybe we could hit up some good shore diving in the after noon or hit the island after we drop my crap off at Palapas Ventana. I think we should do El Bajo on Wednesday July 8th. That way we can head out early in the AM and stay all day. I know its a haul out to it.

Perfect! I'll get you at the airport, and we can dive from las arenas side on wednsday, I have a 14 ft Dinghy we can use that day, and next day we would have to leave from La Paz side to dive el bajo all day.

[scubadown16]

Not a problem.... I'll get you my Itenarary. Perfect I am down for some big fish and new friends. Is there anything you need from the states??? I am happy to bring it down for you. I hope the Camera mount is working well. I have a new helmet camera I am using. So we can take some cool videos.

[BajaBum]

Hey Don't worry about it i am actually in the States right now, i've been in Mississippi for the past month, but i am finally going to Mexico next thursday!!! :thumps:

I will see you in La Paz :D

[scubadown16]

Thanks.... I look forward to it... I'll send a PM tonight with my Flight stuff. Will stay in contact and make plans more final as July approces...

What are you doing in Mississippi?

[BajaBum]

Thanks.... I look forward to it... I'll send a PM tonight with my Flight stuff. Will stay in contact and make plans more final as July approces...

What are you doing in Mississippi?

I am in the Air Force, Air National Guard now actually and i came here for some training 6 more days for graduation day! :thumps: CAN"T WAIT!!!!

[BKTIPS]

I am flying in on the 2nd with Chris Nocera. Plan to scout the 3rd, 4th, & 5th

[sticknrelease]

I believe there are 24 divers committed, only a few spots left...

[John Galt]

If any of you guys are flying Continental and have not yet bought a ticket yet, I have a $400 voucher I'd let go for $300. Gotr bumped and this was my reward...

I thought I'd do some traveling this year, but am moving to Evergreen Colorado about that time and it's not happening.

PM me.

[dennishaussler]

Well,
We have 25 divers as of now, with some new guys, some old guys, and some international guys!!
Theres room left for 4 or 5 more, so if your interested, please contact me and I'll get you on the list.
Its going to be a great one!!!!:thumps:
We have some of the top gear makers in the world kicking in with prizes, Riffe, SeaSniper, Pelagic, Imersion, Hatch custom spearguns, Rob Allen, Florida Freedivers, JBL, Pelaj, Daryl Wong, Neptonics, DiveR, Kiger Construction, Hammerhead, HSD, IAFSN, and bringing up the GOLD LEVEL SLOT, PALAPAS VENTANA :thumps::thumps:
Word back from cerralvo area is AJ's are showing up, wahoo made an appearance but have slowed, dorado are off the north end, looks like the usual suspects will be showing theyre scales on the beach as the meet commences!!!
Shoot me a line if your interested, otherwise, read about it after it happens!

Heres a taste of whats to come!!

VIVA LA WC!!!!!!!!

[timhatler]

call Dennis and come on down and get some of this!!
were putting in 10 FADS for you guys this year and the fish action is already heating up!! This is shaping up to be the best World Cup ever!! oh ya negra modelo on tap and very cold!! Battle of the flashers!!

[sticknrelease]

Tim, what's the latest update? I hear the Dorado are hitting your FAD's...

[BajaBum]

There is some nice Wahoo in cerralvo i am going on Saturday i'll let you know.

Gonzalo

[timhatler]

HEy guys

the Dorado love the new FAds - weve got 5 boats out today, 2 of them are spearfishing - 3 rod and reel - the AJ's have been sighted but they ared deep and the DODOS are plenty with some nize bulls in the 30+ range - weve got 1 spearo headed out to the the backside buoys 10 miles outside the island looking for narlin and toad Dorado - the other is focusing on the north end - heres a pic to get you pumped!!

[timhatler]

weve got our best captains and boats ready to take you to all the best spots on the scouting days - we go to El BAjo also - just costs a little more for the fuel- stoked to see everybody soon!!

[timhatler]

We had a great day yesterday - roosters, one striped marlin, Dorado, and Pargo
our boats are ready to take you to all our spots and all our FADS that we set!! Scouting begins July 2nd for the World Cup
Tap beer getting even colder
heres some pics - see you guys soon - welcome back veterans!!

[dennishaussler]

OK folks its ON!!
I'm out of here tomorrow morning!!! WAHOOOOOOO!!!!
Talked with Tim several times this week, and the big AJ are around, wahoo are coming on strong, and the dorado are making a nuisance of themselves.
We have 27divers this year, and tons of gear for prizes!!
We also have cash for the first two spots. Keep an eye on this link and I'll try to update as the meet progresses.
Hopefully chaput and his boys haven;t shot all the fish in the area!

[worldofblue]

Any update post Day 1?

[sticknrelease]

I just wanted to give a great big thank you to all of the competitors, and to Tim and his family and staff at Palapas Ventana. Dennis puts on a great competition, I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing the real Baja and a LOT of big fish. This was my first trip to Baja, and I had an amazing time. I have to give a special thanks to Christian and Keith for being great dive buddies and always having my back, and to Mike McGuire for taking lots of great pictures.

[freedivehunt131]

justin you got a sail after the comp? if so you have to give us the story

[sticknrelease]

Yep. Christian and I went out Saturday morning to hit the East side of the island, but on the way out, the pongero started shouting "Marleen, Marleen" (marlin). We saw the tail cruising the surface, and I finished throwing on my gear. I slid into the water and started kicking like hell. I swam around, following the hand signals from the ponga driver, changing directions with the fish for about 20 minutes. The fish got farther and farther away, and finally I got back into the boat. We re-positioned, and I slid back into the water.

Christian and the pongero were getting more and more animated when I would look to them for directions, yelling at me to swim faster. I glanced over to my right, and there he was, he had circled, and was paralleling me. I swung my 140 railgun straight out at my 3o'clock position, picked a spot, and pulled the trigger. My float line got taut, and my smaller first float went under. I swam alongside my second float and called for another gun. Christian jumped in wearing just his boardshorts and mask and fins, and handed me the R.A. 130 he had won the night before. He was also trying to get some video on his camera.

I worked my way to my shooting line, dove on the fish and gave him another dose of steel, as I wanted to make sure I had a holding shot on him since I was just using flopper shafts. The Rob Allen threaded him, passing the shaft clean through him and sliding him onto the mono. This time, he freaked out. He charged me, then jumped out of the water, spun around, making a huge mess out of shooting and float lines. He went after Christian, and I watched in horror as he tried to spear him in the guts with his bill. Christian got his hand out, and got stabbed in the hand instead of the guts.

We grabbed the fish, and I buried my knife into his skull. After a few more for good measure, it was done. Time for pictures. The pongero had still only seen the tail, so he was sure we were batteling a marlin. I surfaced with the fish, and there were already 2 other boats full of divers there. They may have been a little disappointed, but I was glad they were there for the photoshoot.:cowboy:

[Killingcarp]

it was a great last day on the water and adds to the cool stuff ive done and seen in my life here are a couple pics taken later that day headin back

[Red Tide]

Awesome story Justin!!! Those sailfish can be very unpredictable when speared. I shot one that went crazy like yours and used my buddy (Cameron) like a human shield to protect me from the crazy fish. He was screaming and fwhaling his arms as I bear hugged him from behind. Good stuff:beer:
Great diving and hanging out with you guys. I look forward to doing it again next year.:beer::beer:

[sticknrelease]

Thanks GR, by the way, your hat and sunglasses went with McGuire, he is going to ship them to you. The video is pretty cool, I will try to figure a way to put it up here. Christian is a little skinny to be a human shield, but I made due with what I had...:-)

[timhatler]

SPECIAL THANKS TO GR TARR and MAX Keidel
these guys donated their prize money to our local kindergarten project - GR you are very generous for a vato sin trabajo
really enjoyed having you guys here and cant wait for your return to PALAPAS VENTANA - stay tuned for Dennis's announcement for 2010 dates!!

[freedivehunt131]

thats bad ass. great job

[Icarus Pacific]

Very classy moves on both participant's parts. Saludos.

I look forward to hearing a comprehensive report of all the going's on. The event, like Palapas Ventana and the surrounding area continues to evolve into a first class venue.

[dennishaussler]

Well,
Guess its time I write a report on this years world cup.
First off,,,,,,, CONGRATS TO GR TARR!!!!!!!!!!!
He did what I expected him to do, win this thing and make it look easy!!
This guy is truly one of the most talented divers I have ever had the pleasure to watch in action. His knowledge and expertise is amazing, and he continues to show me things that no other divers I know of do.
Nice job GR, sorry I wasn;t up to holding the candle to your ass this time.

Now for the fish report. I expected this year to be good for fish, and it was. LOTS of wahoo, dorado, toro, with decent counts of AJ, rooster, and miscellaneous species thrown in. The wahoo were not as big as last year, although some hogs were seen and missed, they were still nice fish.
AJ's went the same, with big AJ being just over 50lbs. I saw several in the 90lb class, but always after taking my 1 of that species for the day, so couldn;t do anything but look at them and laugh.
BIg fish of the meet was a 53lb rooster taken by Guy Skinner of JBL on the last day, to dethrone me for big fish trophy!! Nice job Guy!
No billfish were taken, although several were seen, but no shots afforded. Some big schools of milkfish were around, so if you had the chance to get into them, it was possible to take one, just took a little patience and stealth.
Someone had a 7-8ft mako come up on the fads, but did not give them any grief. There was a commercial shark operation on the island, with lots of carcasses littering the bottom in front of camp. They did use the entire fish, not just the fins or jaws, so thats a good thing.

GR started out in front, and never let up. It was a fox chase for second from there on out, bouncing between James Hardesy, Max Gradin from Brazil, Mike McGuire, Chris Woods I believe all having second for a day, but Max from brazil finished it off in the end holding everyone else off for second place.

I won;'t go into details on the daily take, but we finished with somewhere around 100 fish taken, and over 1300lbs of fish sold and donated to the local kindergarten.

Some highlights: Shannon on a standup paddle board mixing it up at the starting line on day 3!! Oh yeah, did I say bikini???
Guys Rooster on the last day, daily reports of wahoo that KNEW you had already shot yours for the day, and then proceed to dog you, swimming up to your nose, begging you to shoot them, but no one did. Everyone observed the rules and there were no DQ's for a unblemished record for this meet!
Tuesday night pool party down the road, with full bar, chile rellenos, musica, james in an absolutley ****ed up hat that only he could or would wear!
Awards banquet night, with John Perretti doing demos on finishing holds, choke outs, and various other martial arts moves on the divers and pangeros. Great music, great food, great awards and prizes, Tims new drinking game called BEER APNEA, which will be explained at a later date!
Great company, great crew at palapas ventana taking care of everyone!
AND, last but not least, GR's showing of true class WHEN HE DONATED THE 2000$ CASH PURSE TO THE LOCAL KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a class act! This guy spends a pocket full of money to show up and dive this meet, then gives away the first place cash purse!!
Max followed suit by giving his 1200$ second place to the school as well, so we will be doing some really nice work on the school in the upcoming months. I understand there will be a new playground for them as well as possibly and AC unit, or transimission for the school van. Tim will update me when he gets it all finalized.

SO, all that said, if you weren';t there, you missed it!
Oh yeah, what happened to my showing?? What excuse would you like?
All I can say, is I never really moved into the competitive mode, just kind of cruising along, thinking I was gonna win it with a boat load of luck! It never showed, so I wound up down in 10th place. Like everyone else, it all could have changed with 1 fish, but never got there for me.

I want to thank all our sponsors, starting with
GOLD LEVEL PALAPAS VENTANA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim and his crew stepped to fill the spot vacated by pelaj and not only supported the meet at the gold level, but really took care of everyone! First class service, accomodations, food, beach service, fish care, etc!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Timoteo!!!!!
This is the way it went daily:
Meet for breakfast at 0615.
Down the stairs to the beach directly below the restaurant, grab your gear that has been hanging in the two covered garage tents to dry. Grab your guns that were stored in a locked trailer after being washed in 3 freshwater tubs next to the trailer.
Oh year, I forgot grab your lunch and drinks off the table at the restaurant on before heading to the beach.
Pangeros on the beach at 0630, load your boat with capitans help, stage offshore waiting for the starting gun. 0700 off to the races!!
Dive your ass off, shoot fish, eat lunch in between spots, back on beach at 1600hrs.

Pangeros and crew help unload boat, fish is placed under tarps on ice after being weighed by lovely shannita, then fish is filleted by pangeros while you saunter a mere 10yds to the tent for a cold beverage, sit down in the shade and tell story about the day while all the fish are being prepped for storage or sale.

Head to room, shower, laydown for a nap if you wanted, then back to resaurant for dinner, drinks, claiming of fish, and drawing for next days pangeros.

Back to room, turn on AC, head to bed.

Get up, do it again!!

What a treat it is to have everything within 100yds of the headquarters!!

Now on with the sponsors!
HUGE shoutout and thanks to

RIFFE INTERNATIONAL
SEASNIPER
JBL
IMERSION
FLORIDA FREEDIVERS AND ROB ALLEN
HAWAIIN SKINDIVER
HAMMERHEAD
HATCH CUSTOM SPEARGUNS
KIGER CONSTRUCTION
DAKINE
PELAGIC
DEES FLASHERS
NEPTONICS
DARYL WONG
DIVER FINS

I CAN;T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT ALL THESE COMPANIES!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Everyone there went home with a nice prize, and all that is due to our proud sponsors!

Well, I'm sure the story will be in the mags, so keep your eyes open for more to come, and if you ever thought about attending an event like this, keep your eyes peeled for next years meet dates, and shoot me a line at dennis@20fathoms.com for details.

Thanks again everyone who attended, and once again, congrats and thanks GR!!!

[sticknrelease]

Gotta love that SeaSniper full moon! nice placement Chris!

[Johnoly]

Huge Congrats GR and that was an exceptionally generous donation!!

[DarenDeath]

Well, it's good to see that Chaput had a good time at least:beer::p. We all know he can't shoot a thing with his spearguns ;)
:p

[zenspearo]

Class act all the way!

[dennishaussler]

seems chris likes getting his ass in the shots,
go figure.
a few more pics from the cup. beer apnea was designed by tim, and it paired pangeros and divers to see who could go under the tap the longest, combined time. problem was, the beer was COLD!!!!!!!!!
I pumped up, figuring I could go at least a miinute, but it was so cold I only lasted about 8 seconds. James was the champ, going about 30 seconds.
figure he';s got some talent for something besides cutting hair:cowboy:

[Smudge]

Real class right there!!! Excellent!

[Mobile Diver]

WTG GR!!:thumps:

[Icarus Pacific]

For a guy that rants so much about being Speedo-free and not ever needing to see a guy's junk, Chris sure looked to be OK with the other end! And check out Mundo gettin jiggy wit it!

Very smooth of GR to donate the winnings. That karma will offset some of those east coast shenanigans!

Looked like a killer time Dennis, congratulations on getting everyone back to the beach!

[scubadown16]

Once again it was an awesome time. Thanks to Tim, Dennis,GR,Max, and all the other people who take care of the little things. Here are some great photos.

[sticknrelease]

I told Brian that's not how you smoke a milkfish, but he just kept concentrating on trying to light the tail...

[DISKSKO]

Congrats on a great event!!! =)

[ACEVEDO]

We are Lucky to have guys like GR in are sport :beer::beer::beer:

[jcaulkins]

See you guys there. Made the trip last year and the diving was great. Warm water, great viz, and abundant fish. Hope to have a repeat this year with some more personal bests. If anyone is thinking about this tourni - i would say dont miss it!!! how often do you get to dive with amazing fish and talk with some of the best spearos in the world. This is the best way to pick up new skills and learn a lot.